David Byrne, former lead singer of the Talking Heads and pretty much the coolest geek on the face of the planet, spoke out against DRM and big record labels this week at South by Southwest. He predicted that online sales would surpass CD sales by 2012, forcing labels to choose between accepting music sales as a loss leader for tours and merch, focusing more on marketing for many artists, or only shooting for mega-stars like Britney Spears.

He goes on to say that labels need to drop DRM in order for sales to really take off, as he only gets his music from eMusic or downloads it illegally to avoid DRM. Once they ditch DRM, he says, iTunes will lose their "monopoly" and the market for online music will really open up.

As if we needed another reason to idolize David Byrne. You're dreamy, David! –Adam Frucci

Rocker David Byrne Making Sense at SXSW Fest [NY Times]

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